


Pyrrhus

by phalangine



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Pirate, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 22:38:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14318586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phalangine/pseuds/phalangine
Summary: At the height of the Golden Age of Piracy, Leonard Snart has risen to the rank of captain and won the unofficial title of scourge of England. That isn't enough for him, though. No, he won't be content until he grinds the empire to dust beneath his heel.





	Pyrrhus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jessicamiriamdrew](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessicamiriamdrew/gifts).



> this is both an ode to starz's masterpiece black sails (the second season of which this will spoil heavily if you haven't seen it) and my love for jessicamiriamdrew

It's late at night, or possibly early in the morning. Leonard has been awake for hours, unable to let his mind stop moving long enough to rest. If she were awake, Sara would roll her eyes and point out that that's hardly a new thing for him. He's been on the move for years. A poor boy who rose through the ranks because he was smart and determined, that restlessness of his should have turned to prosperity by now.

If it hadn't been for London, it would have.

If it hadn't been for Sara and her meddling, Leonard would have money and a good name and a long retirement to look forward to. He would be prospering from the riches of a tamed Nassau instead of living a life of infamy punctuated by time spent sleeping in a tiny home on the outskirts of the city.

Leonard could have been married by now. He could have had a child or two to bounce on his hip while he plotted how best to secure them even grander futures. He could have been living a life of respect and fine things he bought for himself.

Beside him, Sara shifts in her sleep.

If he were that man, the one with a fortune and a wife and a good reputation, he wouldn't know the truth. He wouldn't have seen England for what his country is, wouldn't walk through life with the taste of blood in his mouth. He wouldn't know the security of nothingness. All those fine things, they could be stripped away with the whim of a single man, and Leonard would have been waiting for that until the day he died.

Out here, he has already lost everything of who he once was.

All that remains of the man he was in London are the memories Sara keeps for him. In a portrait Leonard is careful never to study, in the books in languages Leonard doesn't speak.

If it were up to him, Leonard would just as soon dump the damn things in the sea. Maybe then he would find some glimpse of peace.

 

**_xx_ **

 

_Three years prior_

Leonard Snart has done his best to be a man of order. He doesn't drink to excess. He doesn't brawl. He doesn't use foul language. He follows his orders and ensures the men under his command do the same. He has grown from an unruly poor boy into an exemplary officer in Her Majesty’s Navy. The future could not be brighter for him.

Yet here he is, lying in bed with a nobleman’s son.

In the soft morning light, Raymond looks almost otherworldly. He's too soft, too perfectly formed, to be made from the same material as other men. As Leonard.

Raymond opens his eyes and quirks a grin at Leonard. “I can feel you thinking.”

“One of us ought to,” Leonard reminds him dryly. He inches closer, though, and lays a hand on Raymond’s chest.

Beneath his palm, Raymond’s heart beats strong and sure.

“You think this is a whim?” Raymond asks. His brow has already begun to furrow, a sure sign he's upset. “You think I'm bringing you into my bed, in my father’s house, because I don't fear the consequences?”

“Don't you?” Leonard asks.

“I do.” Raymond lays his hand over Leonard’s. “And that fear is why I bring you here. I'm not frightened of losing things that don't matter.”

Leonard bites the inside of his cheek. For all Raymond is a nobleman, for all he speaks of change from the safety of his birth, there's a spark of understanding in Raymond’s eyes. His title hasn't made him reckless; his flaws are inborn- an optimist’s belief the world can change for the better and a good man’s certainty he must drive it to do so. Even so, he sees the risks of expressing what he wants.

If he could, Raymond would be Leonard’s in front of the world. But to do so would endanger not only their plan to liberate Nassau and bring it to heel, but also their own lives. Raymond would never endanger Leonard like that.

A good man would return that care and refuse Raymond.

But Leonard isn't a good man. He's an upstart and a thief, a greedy man who would rather see the whole of London burn than go a day without Raymond’s kisses.

 

**_xx_ **

 

_Present_

Leonard must fall asleep eventually because comes awake with a jolt when Sara pushes him out of bed. He lands on his shoulder, hard, then rolls onto his back with a groan.

“What was that for?” he grumbles.

Poking her head over the side of the bed, Sara looks down at him. “You kept saying his name in your sleep.”

She doesn't need to specify whose name. It's only ever one.

“And this was such a crime, you felt the need to punish me by throwing me to the floor like a dog?” He pushes himself up. “You're playing games again,” he says, narrowing his eyes at. “I'm not interested in playing.”

She doesn't respond immediately, just watches him with her bright, knowing eyes. “He wouldn't like this,” she says at last. “What you're doing, this war you're waging- it’s only going to end in more bloodshed. More dead me.”

“It's a good thing he isn't here to witness it, then, isn't it?”

“You think you're the only one who misses him?” Sara snaps. “He was my husband! Perhaps I didn't love him as you did, but don't you think for a second that I wouldn't give anything to have him back.”

Leonard opens his mouth to reply, to tell her exactly how he loves Raymond and what the price of that love was, but he finds the words won't come. He can't hurt her in Raymond’s name.

“It's all I have,” he says instead, voice rough. “Whatever goodness was in me died with him.”

“That isn't true,” Sara argues gently. She reaches out slowly, letting him avoid her touch if he wants. He doesn't. “I know you wish it were, but you are still a good man, Leonard.”

“Am I? It's been so long, I barely remember who I was before our exile.”

“Then let me remind you.”

Her voice is pleading, a siren song luring Leonard onto the rocky shores of remembering. Of the past, where Leonard smiled because he was happy and he knew the scratch of stubble against his chest. He wants to return. He aches to remind himself of the gift he was given in the shape of Raymond Palmer.

“I can't,” he says instead.

His voice is unsteady, but Sara doesn't point that out. She merely retrieves her hand with a noise of disgust. “Go, then. Get back on your ship and find some men to kill. But don't think you do this for him. Don't you dare.”

She rolls over, presenting her back to him, and Leonard knows he's been dismissed. He gathers his clothes and dresses quickly, only to hesitate in the doorway. It's his custom to kiss her goodbye. She won't welcome it now, but the idea of leaving without saying goodbye unsettled him.

Tentatively, he approaches the bed. “Sara.”

She doesn't answer aloud, but she does extend her hand. Leonard takes it in his and brushes his lips over the back.

“I'll come back,” he promises, releasing his hold.

She tucks her arm back under the blanket. “You'd better.”

That's the only send off he's going to get, and Leonard knows it. He doesn't try to change her mood. He simply adjusts his boots one final time, then marches out the door.

He can't claim that every action he makes is to enact vengeance for Raymond’s death. If vengeance were all he wanted, he could have let Sara talk him into a life in Spain and disrupting England’s trade. That won't be enough, though. It wasn't merely a life that England took. It was a future. A kind hand gently shaping it into something better.

That hand is gone now.

England doesn't want a revolution, but that's exactly what it's going to get. Leonard will make certain of it.


End file.
